Title Pakistan Forest Digest Issue 01- A4 - Pakistan Research Group

SDPISustainable Development Policy InstituteKundbait: Forest officials set forest on fire tohide their corruptionLegal action must be taken against the weak and corrupt officials:Al-Falah OrganizationDaily Shamal, Abbottabad, June 10, 2010Dhadar (Crime Report) Forest guard and forester inKundbait area set the forest of entire area on fire. Thefire severely damaged the saplings and the wildlife.Members of the community-based organizationreached the site and managed to put out fire. Still thereare hundreds of logs and burnt wood lying in the areaand sawing is also continuing here. High officials ofthe forest department are requested to take legal actionagainst the weak and the corrupt officials. Otherwisethe owners of guzara forests and residents of KundTarla will be forced to take direct action. These viewswere expressed by the secretary Al-falah organizationand owner of guzara forest Abid Ali Shah Kazmi in awritten statement issued to the press.Parhna:Fire in forests burning animals and birdsEvery year miscreants set forests on fire which burns thousands of treesDaily Shamal, Abbottabad, June 13, 2010Parhna (Shamal Correspondent)Frequent fires in Parhna forests arecausing damage to birds andanimals. Miscreants set forests inParhna on fire every year whichburn trees over thousands of acresof land. An inquiry should belaunched against these miscreants.They should be given duepunishment so that no one darestaking such actions in future.These views were expressed byMaster Sabir Tanoli , MalikSarfraz, and Nadeem Tanoli whiletalking to Shamal.Konish Valley:Forests on Tanglai hills catch fireMany factors might have caused the fireDaily Shamal, Abbottabad, June 23, 2010Konish valley (Bureau Chief) Forests in Tanglai hillsarea are on fire. The view of these forests at night isbeautiful but many factors could be responsible for thisfire. According to a report the forest was being cut likevegetable. Over that the owners of forests and themedia raised much hue and cry. But corrupt peoplewere appointed for protection of these forests. Officerswere replaced one after another but cutting of forestscontinued. Officers followed the policy of pleasing thepolitical influential. People kept lamenting but no suchofficial was appointed who could take action againsttimber smugglers or corrupt officials of the forestdepartment. Whenever an honest official was postedthe political elements sent him back with muchdisgrace. One such example is former DFO who tookstrict action against the timber smugglers and imposedheavy fines on them. A few of the smugglers were putbehind bars. He had given strict instruction that theforest officials should regularly patrol the forests.People were happy with him but a few influentialpeople did not like his honesty and efficiency. So hewas posted out. Now the entire forest department iskeeping its eyes closed and smuggling of timber is atits peak. Now that the media and communityorganizations have decided to take action forprotection of forests the department is quite perturbed.Media and community organizations decided to surveythe forests in Tanglai and invited the forest officials tojoin the survey. On hearing the news of a plan forsurvey the forest was set on fire to hide the evidence ofcutting of trees. At present the entire Tanglai forest ison fire and no forest official or political influential hasordered any inquiry of the fire. People miss formerDFO Sardar Sultan who was an honest officer.Pakistan Forest Digest Vol. 1, No. 1, April – June, 2010